Martin Stranka is a self-taught professional photographer, born on April 13, 1984 in Czech Republic. Martin's distinctive vision of photography etched as a unique space located in a balance and serenity, while his sophisticated and rewarding images exists in that narrow space of a few seconds between dreaming and awakening. During the last two years Martin has gathered over 30 remarkable international photography awards, from different competitions including: Professional Photographer of the Year, Emerging Talent Award in Nikon International Photo Contest, International Photo Awards, Sony World Photography Awards or Digital Photographer of the Year two times in a row.

His solo and group exhibitions were possible to see from South and North America, through Europe up to Asia. His photographs were exhibited in places such as New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Milan, London, Miami, Sao Paulo, Prague, Brussels, North Carolina, Hong Kong, Mexico, Vienna and many more. Martin's work was presented in prestige galleries such as Getty Images Gallery, Saatchi Gallery and Robert Fontaine Gallery. His work was exposed next to artists like Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Banksy and Damien Hirst.

He has created book covers for the biggest New York publishers like Harper Collins Publishers or Sterling Publishing. Also he has co-operated with other book publishers, music publishers or artists in person around the world.

He loves the smell of autumn and sparkling grains of dust floating in the sunset.


AWARDS

2012 1.st place, Professional Photographer of the Year 2011, International
2012 2.nd place, Digital Photographer of the Year Awards 2011, International
2011 Category Winner - People's Choice, 1X Photo Awards 2011, Conceptual, International
2011 Emerging Talent Award, Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011, International
2011 Finalist - Saatchi Showdown, The Saatchi Gallery, UK / International
2011 Photographer Of The Week, JPG Magazine, International
2011 "BLUR PHOTO 011", annual Best of BLUR magazine, Zagreb / Croatia
2011 3.rd place, Digital Photographer of the Year Awards, 300.000 entries, International
2011 Finalist, The Icon Prize, International
2011 Artist of the week, One Exposure (1x.com), International
2011 Finalist, Focus project 2010 / Artists Wanted, NYC / International
2011 Artist of the week, The Saatchi Gallery, UK / International
2010 1st place, The Photography Ashes, International
2010 Finalist, Digital SLR Photographer of the Year 2010, International
2010 Finalist, ClickIt 2010, Photo Essays, International
2010 Finalist, ClickIt 2010, Vision 2010, International
2010 Finalist, Photographer Of The Year 2010, over 114.000 entries, International
2010 1st place, International Photo Award 2010, International
2010 Finalist, Through Your Eyes photography contest, International
2010 Finalist, 30th Annual Spring Photography Contest, International
2010 Honorable Mention prize, International Photo Award 2010, International
2010 1st place, The Print Space Gallery, International
2010 Best of 20 photographers, Art of Emotion, BLUR magazine, International
2010 Directors Choice, Center International Awards, 6.000 entries, International
2010 Finalist, Pixpa, over 1000 entries, International
2010 Finalist, Sony World Photography Awards 2010, 43.700 entries, International
2010 Hall of the fame 2009, Nonsense Society, International
2009 Silver award, International Aperture Awards 2009, Illustrative, International
2009 Silver award, International Aperture Awards 2009, Landscape, International
2009 Bronze award, International Aperture Awards 2009, Illustrative, International
2009 1st place, The Print Space photography competition, International


EXHIBITIONS

2012 The Printspace Gallery, Professional Phototgrapher of the Year 2011, London, UK
2012 Rebirth / Znovuzrozeni, Myslbek Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 Loud Cloud, Hilton / Cloud 9, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 And I Keep Falling, Palace Langhans, Fotoskoda, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Galerie, Ostrava, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Fontana, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Silesia, Opava, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Rokycanska, Plzen, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Main Palace of Czech Post Office, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Letnany, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Park Hostivar, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 Dream on / off, Palace Flora, Prague, Czech Republic
2012 SCOPE New York 2012, SCOPE Pavilion, Manhattan, New York, USA
2012 The Affordable Art Fair 2012, Superstudio piu, Milan, Italy
2012 Robert Fontaine gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
2012 Dream on / off, Vankovka Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic
2012 L' ART INDUSTRIEL gallery, Udine, Italy
2011 And I Keep Falling, Phenix Cafe, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 250 pictures, Bemmel, The Netherlands
2011 UNHCR and MSF charity exhibition, 23 artists, Africa
2011 6th MIKK annual photography competition, Slovenia
2011 Art for life, ICON Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 Getty Images Gallery, Nikon Photo Contest International 2011, London, UK
2011 Ginza Nikon Salon, Nikon Photo Contest International 2011, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Osaka Nikon Salon, Nikon Photo Contest International 2011, Osaka, Japan
2011 Expo Vale Tattoo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America
2011 LA Convention Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
2011 BLUR PHOTO 011, Croatian National Post Office, Zagreb / Croatia
2011 Escapism, Museum of Young Art, Vienna / Austria
2011 SecondLife, virtual gallery, Educatica, Czech Republic
2011 PurePhoto Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2011 5P Gallery, Bern, Switzerland
2011 Saatchi Gallery, Artist of the week, London, The United Kingdom
2011 MONO, EXPart Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2010 Salon 2010, North Carolina, USA
2010 Art for life, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 The language of stillness, HATCH festival, Asheville, USA
2010 MONO, ICON Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 The language of stillness, Castell Gallery, North Carolina, USA
2010 Review Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2010 Center, Newspace for photography, Portland, Oregon, USA
2010 The C Word, TaiKoo Place, Island East, Hong Kong, China
2010 Gape Gallery, Solidni nejistota, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 The Print Space Gallery, East London, The United Kingdom
2009 Cafe Emporio, Palace Flora, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 My stories, Solidni nejistota, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 Art for life, The Chemistry gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 Karousel Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
2009 Katcher Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2008 Art for life, The Chemistry gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2007 PhotoExpo, North Bohemian Gallery, Litomerice, Czech Republic